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HELP US VOICE FOR THE CAUSE OF THE HIMALAYAN REGION AND BEYOND !

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June 7, 2011

[The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated in 2010 that the balance-sheets of small island financial centres alone added up to $18 trillion — a sum equivalent to about a third of world GDP (Shaxon). The IMF estimates the size of global black money — excluding Switzerland, China, Taiwan and the oil-exporting economies — at US $18 trillion. But that’s still an underestimate, says the IMF!]

By C. G. Krishnamurthi

I support Baba Ramdev or whoever in his/her fast and fight to get the Indian wealth (Black money) stashed abroad. But I hope this group's support is towards the cause than the individual - hope the same applies in the case of India against corruption team members.

Support and opposition should ideally not be based on any individual but on cause. Celebrities may come and go, they may help in getting the message across to a larger audience, they may be social change agents yet their role has limitations as far as implementing and administering the change. We need able administrators to do this job (e.g. our election commission which is been doing its job well ever since the system is stirred by T.N.Seshan) - this is the responsibility of people to ensure they get educated and elect the right candidates and also put forth demands that have wider consequences

In the case of Lokpal the government seems to be not serious with respect to enacting any kind of law which will punish grafters or bring the black money back to Government coffers. If the government was serious they could have deputed Ms. Aruna Roy (who originally fought for RTI in India) and few others who are part of NAC to draft the new Lokpal bill. Instead Government choose to put forth a group of ministers who's track record is questionable in bringing out a law that will check corruption
To start with Baba Ramdev should have taken up one single issue - that the government disclose names of Indians with Swiss accounts and proceed with actions against those individuals in India instead of a list of demands - though they are legitimate and important people could not relate with all and the interconnections - appears like a dilution of focus. Note that the German government had given us a list of names of Indians whose money is lying in the LGT Bank Liechtenstein in 2009 itself. Indian government so far refused to disclose the names provided by Germany let alone action against them

Note 1:I also suspect whether people are aware of the magnitude of the issue required from government and the steps, policy decisions needed to achieve this - to start with amendments in FEMA, PMLA in addition tax treaties with tax heavens like Swiss, Cayman, BVI, Guyana, Jersey and a host of other countries (over 70 tax heavens) not just tax treaties also extradition treaties with governments who are known to encourage asylum like US /EU/ Canada /UK - In addition this would also require strengthening ED, Commerce Ministry and External Affairs ministry and also they also need to jointly work on these financial crimes - RBI, SEBI, jointly need to lead. In simple terms this means a consistent 5-10 year period of efforts to get the black money into India provided the tax heavens (countries) cooperate - we very well know that our judicial, bureaucratic, policy level hurdles - which means a sustained effort from government with a special secretary assigned and a cabinet level minister or finance minister be answerable to the entire proceeding - irrespective of government change in the center. Hope I'm not sounding pessimistic - but to see clear results on the ground - government still not got even a single paisa from Harshad Metha scam or Hiten Dalal or Jain Hawala or even any of the scams that had taken place and convicted in the court of law.

Note 2: So far the focus has been only on individual black money - what about the so called Charitable trusts - all political parties have trusts and receive funds through this mode. These trust acts as a black money haven with in India itself. Many cash rich NGOs who are funded by large corporate CSRs, vested interest groups are using this route. Foreign funding agencies which are promoting GM crops, nuclear energy, etc. are also using this method to fund dubious research bodies, opinion groups, and their PR activities. Many religious outfits like SIMI are also getting funds in this fashion - the source of funding is always questionable with respect to majority of the funds. Eventually some of the funds reach insurgents and anti-social elements like Naxals.

Note 3: Starting 2001 US was very strict to force international banking community to abide by their KYC (know your customer) /AML (anti money laundering) ATF (anti terrorism financing), SOX, Patriotic Act and a host of many other laws and regulations. In addition to these as part of BASEL-II and BASEL-III norms which all world financial institutions had to comply contains many controls for curtailing international money laundering. Yet the window for all malpractices as far as US is concerned - Cayman Islands is still open and thriving. And though many of these laws and regulations are draconian being used to harass common people and to protect the rich, they did serve some of the intended purpose of stopping of funding of international terror against US (only US with in US borders) so far (and of course interests of the US Rich). This is so far used only to prevent terrorist operations and not stop illegal money transactions.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated in 2010 that the balance-sheets of small island financial centres alone added up to $18 trillion — a sum equivalent to about a third of world GDP (Shaxon). The IMF estimates the size of global black money — excluding Switzerland, China, Taiwan and the oil-exporting economies — at US$ 18 trillion. But that’s still an underestimate, says the IMF!

Thus it doesn't take much time to get the names of the people who are steeling India's wealth from the international financial institutions and their private banking arm - please note that private banking originated in Switzerland. The secret Swiss banking industry is called private banking, except in SWISS and other tax havens private banking is regulated - now whenever you see an advertisement of a financial institution /bank stating that they offer private banking - please be reminded of its origins and know that it is an elite banking practice.

India has opened its own window for money laundering in late 90s in Mauritius. This is actively used now for carrying out illegal money transactions. (Mauritius itself is a black money /tax haven) - there are 9000 international corporations and financial institutions including Swiss Private banks registered in Mauritius that are doing business in India and investing in Indian stock /commodities markets. Now Mauritius has become the defacto route for FDI and FII money flow in and out of India.

The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (Money Laundering and Financial Crimes, March 2009, by the US Department of State suggests that 30-40% of the inflows may be sent there by Hawala (Couriers take money in rupees, convert it to dollars abroad, and then deliver it where it is needed. They also do the reverse: take dollars abroad, convert it to rupees, and being it back during election time).

During 2007-2008, according that report, formal inflows were US$ 42.6 bn (and so 40 percent of this, $18 bn, could be reflected as illegal “flows” not captured by the law). This sum could be paid for in rupees here but stored in tax havens abroad. These hawala deals are for only one year.

Please note that formal means through bank to bank transfers to these tax havens - it would not take much time to get the banks in India to provide the reports of all the cash inflows and outflows from and to to all these tax havens including Mauritius in the past 10 years in matter of weeks this can be done - these reports are also filed with RBI

The social activists who are fighting may or may not know these details, but do the general public know ? Are they interested in knowing ? Or simply interested in making some noise without substance - we want our money back - though legitimate would not result in anything in the end. May possibly result in violent protests /civil war - which is not good our country.

[The 39-year-old's father, Jay Ballav Subedi, and mother Sumitra, who live in Bharuwa, a remote village in western Nepal's Syangja district, also refuted allegations by Digvijay Singh, general secretary of Congress party, that their son had been involved in criminal activities in Nepal and had obtained an Indian passport illegally.]

AGENCIES

KATHMANDU: The parents of Baba Ramdev's Man Friday, Acharya Balkrishna, who is said to be missing since Sunday, sent an SOS to the government of Nepal on Tuesday, asking for an initiative to find the whereabouts of their disappeared son, according to the website of the Times of India.

The 39-year-old's father, Jay Ballav Subedi, and mother Sumitra, who live in Bharuwa, a remote village in western Nepal's Syangja district, also refuted allegations by Digvijay Singh, general secretary of Congress party, that their son had been involved in criminal activities in Nepal and had obtained an Indian passport illegally.

According to the aged parents, they had no idea about the hullaballoo going on in India regarding their son till a journalist from a Nepali television station, Image TV, brought the matter to their notice. "On hearing all these things, we felt we had fallen down from the house roof," the shell-shocked parents said.

They said Balkrishna was born in Hardwar where Jay Ballav was employed. They brought him to Nepal only after he was three months old. When he was 13, the teen ran away to New Delhi, where he studied in a vedic school, before going to Hardwar again and stayed on in India. The Syangja district administration also said that Balkrishna had never taken Nepali citizenship.

Instead of being involved in criminal activities, as the Indian politician had alleged, villagers said he had persuaded Ramdev to open a yoga and ayurvedic centre in the remote village and helped in setting up a nursery to grow ayurvedic medicinal plants, which gave villagers a mean of livelihood.

Though there was no immediate reaction from the Nepal government, the revelation is bound to create more bad blood in Nepal, especially coming after the Aarushi murder case. Another private TV channel, News@24, called Singh's statements regrettable and targeted at Balkrishna simply because he was thought to be a Nepali. Nepalis have in the past been stung by the arrest of a Nepali domestic help over the suspicion that he was involved in the murder of schoolgirl Aarushi Talwar and police initially naming another Nepali domestic help as suspect when he too was found murdered.

Ramdev commands a huge fan following in Nepal with hundreds of people swearing by his exercises during early morning TV shows. Started in 2007, his Patanjali Yog Peeth has now spread over Nepal's 75 districts and runs 27 ayurvedic medicine centres. Last year, Ramdev held four yoga camps in Nepal with the first one in Kathmandu being inaugurated by Nepal's President, Dr Ram Baran Yadav.

His followers and Yog Peeth officials, who had submitted a memorandum at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu on Monday and the foreign ministry, condemning the Indian police action in disrupting Ramdev's peaceful satyagraha in New Delhi's Ramlila Maidan as barbaric, said they had called off further protests but would remain on the alert for further developments.